Message to Young African Princesses Everywhere – About Selika Lazevski

Message to Young African Princesses Everywhere – About Madame Selika Lazevski

From time to time, Voices Of Africa will present exceptional black women from the past—from different walks of life, careers, and accomplishments, some well-known or perhaps almost entirely unknown. ‘Women of color’ have made remarkable contributions to world history but aren’t consistently recognized.

Today’s ‘woman of color’ continues the legacy of many melanin-rich women who have come before her. And we at Voices Of Africa humbly ask and will support her efforts to continue that legacy for her community and humanity.

Please enjoy Selika Lazevski’s image and brief biography.

Selika Lazevski was a Black horsewoman in Belle Époque Paris. Little is known of her life, but she is thought to have been a horsewoman who rode haute école at the Nouveau Cirque (1886-1926) on rue Saint-Honoré, Paris. Selika may not have been her real first name, and there is a possibility that she took her surname Lazevski from the Polish circus horseman and Haute école rider Valli de Laszewski and his French wife, Lara, who worked at the Nouveau Cirque during that period.

Photo taken by Felix Nadar in 1891 Selika Lazevski biography shared from https://www.quora.com/